Stormheart the Warrior Wizard: Book 1 — The Stone of Power
by FiresofHope
Summary: Stormy the kittypet has never played a game while flying on a cloud. He's never helped hatch a giant beetle. All he's ever known is a terrible life with his horrible aunt, uncle and cousin. His room is a tiny cage beneath the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years. But that is about to change as the newly named Stormheart discovers a world he never knew existed.


Petunia and Vernon, of Number Four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the least cats you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they simply didn't hold with such nonsense.

Vernon was a very large cat with short, grayish-yellow fur, and long whiskers. His mate, Petunia, was nearly his exact opposite. She had long golden fur and a very long neck, perfect for peering over the fence to spy on the neighbors' cats. Vernon and Petunia also had a son named Dudley. He looked much like his father, except for the long whiskers, and his hair was a bit longer and shinier as well.

The family of cats belonged to a reasonably kind twoleg who lived alone and most likely always will (hence the cats) He was tall, quiet, always remembered to feed them all, and occasionally brought forth the sacred red dot.

Nothing important or unusual ever happened to the family of cats and their twoleg — that is, except for one fateful night when ravens flocked the sky like storm clouds…

An old tomcat padded down the thunderpath as the calls of ravens filled the sky. His long, silver-white fur shone in the moonlight, and his pale blue eyes shone like stars. He walked through the night until he came to a sign on the side of the thunderpath. At this, the silver tom sat down and pawed around in the long fur on his chest. He pulled out a small silver pebble held around his neck by a thin string. He held this pebble in his paws and closed his eyes. The stone began to glow. Starting at one end of the thunderpath and ending at the other, the tall lights that bordered the black path flicked off, one by one. No sooner than this came a rustling in the bushes several fox-lengths ahead, and a rabbit timidly hopped out. The small gray ball of fur stayed in place and quivered slightly for a few heartbeats.

"Brackensight, I know it's you," spoke the silver tom in a soft, deep voice.

The rabbit gave a small huff, (can rabbits huff?) and shook out its fur. At this came a wondrous transformation. The small gray rabbit began stretch and expand, its ears shrunk and stood straight, its tail thinned and lengthened, it fur drew back and its face emerged. In less than several heartbeats, where once stood a small rabbit now stood a slender, green-eyed, short-haired, gray tabby she-cat.

"Moonstar, how in the name of Starclan did you know it was me?" The gray tabby cat sat down and promptly began to groom herself.

The silver tom chucked. "Why, Brackensight, I've never seen a rabbit stand so rigid!"

"That isn't funny, Moonstar."

"Well, in that case, many apologies. Now let's get down to business, shall we?"

"Yes, we shall. Now, to start, I've been hearing some rumors…"

"On a night like this, I assume there would be many. Which ones have you heard?"

The Brackensight looked around in the darkness with luminous green eyes, then answered in a soft voice.

"About… You-Know-Who…"

"Oh, for Starclan's sake, call him by his real name at least."

"Alright then…" Brackensight hesitated for a moment, then leaned in close and lowered her voice to a whisper. "_Snake_"

"Well at least you said his name." Moonstar sighed.

"So is he – Snake – really… _dead_?"

"Well, I've heard those same 'rumors,' and near as I can tell, they're true. Though I don't believe he's quite dead yet — he always seems to survive in some way."

"And those aren't the only rumors I've heard!" Brackensight's green eyes gleamed in the darkness. "Lilyfeather and Nightblaze — dead! And their son — Stormkit! The kit who lived!"

Moonstar chucked. "Now, now, Brackensight, let's not get excited."

"Hmph. Like I ever do."

"Well, for your information, I can confirm that those rumors were indeed true."

"Well, if that's so, then where is the little kit? Shouldn't you have brought him?"

"I had Tiger bring him."

"Tiger?!" Brackensight's yowl was choked with dismay.

"What's wrong with Tiger? I trust him. I'd trust him with my life."

"Yes, I know that. It's just that… you really think he's perfect for this job?"

"Well, see here, Brackensight, I– er… what's that noise?"

A low whistling sound filled the air as a dark shape appeared in the sky on the horizon. A large, dark splotch came into vision as well as a large, dark cat steadily positioned on the high-speed platform. As these two things came closer (quite quickly), the cat came into more detail as well. He was an enourmous, muscular tom with thick brown fur and dark honey-colored eyes. The tom was truly huge. He must have been the size of a small panther, and looked quite like one, too. The platform he was riding on was indeed as large and dark as it had first appeared, but the sparkling star-like pinpoints were now visible, along with the platform's rolling, liquidlike texture.

"Is that-" Brackensight peered at the cat and the platform with dark green eyes.

The black platform hurtled towards the ground, and the cat seemed even larger up close. A small white bundle also became visible at the edge of the platform, near the huge cat's hind leg.

As the platform touched the ground, it rippled even more, and as soon as it landed, it dissolved into the ground like water slipping down the pores of the stone thunderpath.

"Tiger!" A delighted expression lifted the old, long whiskers of Moonstar's face.

"Professor Moonstar." The huge cat said, stepping off the ground where the platform had been.

"Good evening, and where in the word did you get that here flying platform of yours?"

"Borrowed it, professor sir. Young Darkheart lent it to me, sir."

"Do you have the kit?"

"Yes, sir. I managed to get him out of the wreckage all righ' before all the kittypets and twolegs started swarmin' around. Cute little thing fell asleep right as we was flyin' over Bristol," The large dark cat, Tiger, carefully lifted up the white bundle in his enormous jaws.

Moonstar pulled the white sheets back with one claw, and a tiny black kit became visible. Just under a tuft of fur between his ears, there was a strangely-shaped cut, almost like a bolt of lightning.

"Is that where-" Brackensight too was peering at the kit.

"Yes," Moonstar's voice was very low now. "He'll have the scar forever."

"Can't you do something about it?"

"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars come in handy. I have one scar on my left hind leg that is a perfect map of the London underground. Now, give him here Tiger. Let's get this over with."

"C-could I say goodbye to him one last time, sir?" asked Tiger. He bent his huge, furry head over the kit and licked his tiny ears. Just then, the enormous cat let out a loud, painful yowl into the night air.

"Tiger! Quit your wailing or we'll be found!" Brackensight's dark green glare severely rested on Tiger.

"S-sorry, it's jus' that — it's so sad, Lilyfeather and Nightblaze, and their poor Stormkit havin' to go live with them kittypets!"

"Yes, Tiger, I know," Moonstar spoke softly. "Well, we better go on."

Tiger's wails quieted to a small whimpering, and Moonstar looked up towards the sky.

"Starclan, may you in all your glory and magic look down upon this kit. He is young and innocent, but he has power shining in his very eyes. May you bless his path of destiny." Moonstar lowered his head down to the small kit. "Stormkit, from this moment on until you receive your full name, you shall be known as Stormpaw." Moonstar touched his nose to the newly named Stormpaw's forehead.

Moonstar, with Stormpaw's bundle in his jaws and the other two cats flanking him, he walked over to the house and gently set down the bundle on the doorstep.

There was a silence.

"Well," said Moonstar finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well be going."

"Yeah," said Tiger in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Darkheart his flyin' thing back. I hope it didn't dissolve into the ground like that for good. G'night, Professor Brackensight - Professor Moonstar, sir." Tiger sprinted off into the darkness.

"I shall see you soon, I expect, Brackensight," said Moonstar, nodding to her. She too disappeared down the thunderpath.

Moonstar turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and drew out the shining silver stone once more. The pebble glowed for a moment, and the lights flickered back. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of the house. "Good luck, Stormpaw," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his long silver fur, he was gone. A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of the street, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Stormpaw rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small paw grasped the folds of white cloth beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by his new twoleg's scream, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He couldn't know that at this very moment, cats meeting in secret all over were holding up their heads to the sky and saying in hushed voices: "To Stormkit - the kit who lived!"


End file.
